James Henry Hammond

James Henry Hammond (15 November 1807-13 November 1864) was a member of the US House of Representatives (N-SC 4) from 4 March 1835 to 26 February 1836 (succeeding John M. Felder and preceding Franklin H. Elmore), Governor (D) from 8 December 1842 to 7 December 1844 (succeeding John Peter Richardson II and preceding William Aiken Jr.), and a US Senator from 7 December 1857 to 11 November 1860 (succeeding Andrew Butler and preceding Frederick A. Sawyer).

Biography
James Henry Hammond was born in Newberry County, South Carolina in 1807, and he became a lawyer in 1828. He established a pro-nullification newspaper in Columbia, and he married into the planter class (becoming brother-in-law to Wade Hampton II and the uncle of Wade Hampton III), coming to own 300 slaves and a number of plantation houses. He went on to serve as a member of the US House of Representatives as a Nullifier Party member, and he went on to serve as Governor from 1842 to 1844 and as a US Senator from 1857 to 1860. He was an outspoken defender of slavery and states' rights during his time in office, arguing that slaves in the south were well-compsenated, while northern "slaves" (laborers) were scantily compensated. He was expelled from the Senate in 1860 when his state seceded from the United States, and he died in 1864.